Redditch matters - Redditch Borough Council - Worcestershire Hub

Redditch - theunknown yearsby Ralph RichardsonHENRY VIII’s closure of Bordesley Abbey on17th July 1539 must have come as ahammer blow to the small adjacent villageof Redditch. Its very existence depended onwork and service for the monastery.For a brief period the inhabitants forgot theirperil and looted Bordesley. The roof tiles andtimbers, the glass, stone and sundrymetalwork vanished almost overnight intothe rude houses of Redditchians. WhileHenry had expected to receive major profitsfrom the sale of the abbey, its value was amere 70 shillings. Redditch folk meanwhilelived more comfortably. They had reducedthe walls of Bordesley to their present heightof barely above six feet.One of the drawbacks of closure was thatthe low-lying land near the abbey, no longerdrained by the talented Cistercian monks,became too wet to support settlement.Gradually, therefore, people moved uphill tosettle on the flat, well-drained area thattoday we call Church Green. They built theirtimber-framed houses all around the edgeand used the green as a safe place to keepcattle and sheep. It became a villagegreen.One thing that could not be moved uphillwas St Stephen’s Chapel at Bordesley whicheffectively became the parish church of thelittle settlement. It had been the gatehousechapel of the abbey. It survived in somestate or other until 1688 when it was restoredby one Nathaniel Mugg. HeChurch Greencommemorated his generosity with aflorid brass plate. It still exists in StStephen’s Church, the only survivingartefact from the gatehouse chapel. Thechapel was staffed by curates fromTardebigge – their lordly vicars did notdemean themselves by preaching inRedditch. One curate had 52 sermons, allrepeatable. His services and preachingswere a useful substitute for a calendar.St Stephen’s Chapel survived to 1801. Whenits state was judged too dangerous for use, itwas demolished. It was replaced in 1805 bythe rather hideous Chapel on the Green inthe centre of the town, which then had 1000inhabitants.There are almost no documents from theperiod 1539 to 1800 which tell us anythingabout Redditch. It appears on no mapsbefore 1800. When the abbey closed,Redditch may have had a population of afew hundred. In the first census of 1801, justover 1000 people lived here. It was still only avillage.One source is the record of the WorcesterQuarter Sessions, published for 1591 to 1642.Redditch, with a variety of spellings, appearsonly eleven times. No great crimes arerecorded. Those whose presence wasdemanded at Quarter Sessions do not havetheir crimes, if any, specified. Perhaps 17thcentury Redditch was particularlylawabiding,perhaps the forces of law and orderwere scarce.In 1625 John Fisher was ordered to keep hispeace towards Gord Windsor. What had hedone? John Woodyne in 1628 kept a puband was ordered not to allow unlawful playsor games and to keep good order. This mightbe asked of a publican today.Ann Sharp stole a blanket worth 6d in 1635and pleaded guilty. John Reeve, a Redditchtanner, was summoned to Worcester in 1636to be questioned about a child in Bewdley.Nothing further is recorded. In 1642 theQuarter Sessions demanded to know thenumber of Recusants, or Roman Catholics, inthe Redditch area. Recusants were, ofcourse, potential traitors. The authoritiesdiscovered 39. There might have been manymore had they visited Beoley, but they didnot. Beoley was the home of the CatholicSheldon family who were still practising theold Catholic faith in the chapel they had builton to the church at Beoley. No doubtSheldon influence ensured that no count wasever made of Catholics in Beoley in 1642 orat any other time.Two other items are recorded whichconcerned Redditch. In 1625 the villagesuffered a bad outbreak of plague. It wassufficiently bad for all the local towns andvillages to be taxed for the relief of the sickand the poor. Bromsgrove provided 12shillings per week. Alvechurch five shillings,Beoley six shillings and others similar amounts.Redditch survived. Less attractive was theaction of the Overseer for the Poor for Beoleyin 1637 who thrust a very pregnant and veryunmarried Alice Hickman over his parishboundary into Redditch. The Overseer forTardebigge (Redditch) thrust her back. Shewas batted between the two, neither beingprepared to pay for her and the child. Hadshe given birth in the middle of the bridgeover the brook marking the boundarybetween Beoley and Redditch they couldhave shared the problem.In the 250 years following the closure ofBordesley Abbey, Redditch was aninsignificant place with at least one pub, ashoemaker, a number of farm workers,several tanners, a largely ruinous church,some rather careless curates and asuspicious number of Roman Catholics.20 Redditch mattersRedditch Borough Council